Day 10 The Summer Palace

We spent a good two hours walking outside at The Summer Palace. This is a huge area of temples and courtyards and a man made lake which the Emperor used as a retreat. His wife the Dragon Lady was all about her luxuries and loved to spend the Emperors money so all the husbands have been calling their wives Dragon Lady since yesterday because we have all been spending too much money in the markets. It was so cold, had to take a hot shower when we got back to warm up and a cup of Tetley(brought from home). Jasmine slept in the stroller for most of the walk. Some of the older kids who were living in the orphanages loved running around and had a lot of fun with the group. I am not sure if they went on outings before so the smiling and the laughing was overwhelming to us and they didn't mind the cold at all.  We have noticed that all the children are easy going and pretty tolerant of everything we are doing. When we go to the restaurants to eat they all sit up in their chairs and eat with us, and boy can they eat! Sometimes we hear someone (no not the parents haha) having a meltdown, but it is usually when we are on a long bus ride or in the busy markets. Jasmine was hard to settle during the night. She has 7 teeth and cutting more. We think the bit of routine we had established in Nanchang has been disrupted with all the touring and she never gets to finish her naps because we keep getting on and off the bus. We are looking forward now to coming home.

Everything decorated for Chinese New Year throughout the city and our hotel

The Summer Palace